Chapter 5

Shiori gasped, shooting up in cold sweat as her eyes scanned the area around her.

Her heart pounded in her chest while her eyes adjusted to the light from the candle next to her bed on a table. She tried to calm herself down, taking a deep breath and counting to ten before letting it go.

When her heart rate slowed down, she began to take in the area around her.

She was in an elegant room, decorated with black sheets and wooden furniture. The bed she laid on was comfortable and soft, which she was not used to. She wiped the sweat away from her brow, moving the silky sheets off her body and putting her feet onto the wooden floor.

The room smelled of musk, which she didn't really mind. She noticed an Uchiha banner standing proud in the corner of the room. It made her sigh, realizing what had happened.

She inwardly smacked herself for pushing herself so hard. Chakra exhaustion was awful to deal with, especially when it came to her reserves. She had barely half the usual reserves most ninja would have. She never knew why, she just assumed it was a birth defect.

Shiori tried to stand, wobbling on her feet and losing her balance. She caught herself on the bed and tried to stand again.

When she regained her balance after the first couple times, she noticed her clothes were different. Her white dress was replaced with a dark blue kimono with an Uchiha symbol on the back. The girl examined herself in the full length mirror next to a dresser.

Her hair was messy, falling down her shoulders and back in tangled curls. There were bags under her eyes that made her look like a walking zombie. She pulled at her cheek, making sure she was completely awake and not in a daze.

The door opened, making her snap out of her thoughts.

Ginjiro stood at the door, smiling brightly with a tray of food in his hands. The smell caused Shiori's stomach to rumble shamelessly.

"Shiori-san! You're awake!" He said, gleefully. He put the tray of food on the dresser and rushed to her side.

"We were all so worried when Madara-nii carried you into the house unconscious!" He exclaimed, hugging the taller girl.

Shiori smiled, patting the boy on the head. "Yeah… I need to remember not to push myself so much with my chakra reserves." She commented.

Ginjiro pouted. "You need to remember not to push yourself in general."

The girl rolled her eyes. "Uh huh. Sure."

"Oh, I forgot! I brought you food!" He said, letting her go to get the tray. Shiori's mouth began to water at the smell of cooked meat and rice. She could barely control herself from devouring the food in front of Ginjiro.

"I hope you like it, Madara-nii cooked the meat, but I cooked the rice!" He said, cheerfully.

Shiori gave him a thank you before taking her chopsticks and digging into the food.

The savory taste of roasted beef melted in her mouth and made the girl smile uncontrollably. This was the first warm meal she's had in a year. Usually, she would eat a salad from her garden or fruit she would find in the forest. She wasn't very good at hunting, so meat was always a treat for her.

"It's delicious!" She grinned, stuffing her face with more meat and rice. Ginjiro smiled even brighter, happy at her praise of the food.

"I'm so glad you like it, Shiori-san!"

"You don't have to use the honorifics, Ginjiro." She commented, chewing more meat in her mouth. She gulped down a sip of water as well.

Ginjiro blushed. "Well… You're my elder and Tou-san said to treat elders with respec-" "Well yeah, but I'm barely older than you. You don't need honorifics around me. Just call me Shiori." She said.

Ginjiro blushed brighter but nodded his small head. "O-Okay, Shiori…"

Shiori chuckled, patting the boy's head.

"So, you're awake."

They both turned, finding Madara and his father standing at the doorway. Shiori quickly swallowed the food in her mouth, trying to adjust her hair to look somewhat normal for more guests.

"I guess another thanks is in order for saving Kazuma's life. Thank you, Shiori-san." Tajima said, bowing his head in light respect.

Shiori blushed, giving a sheepish smile towards him. "It's okay! I'm really glad I could help him. There's no need for thanks."

Tajima only shook his head. "Madara told me of how calm and well executed you were. I must say I am very impressed and I just wanted to… apologize for how I treated you before." The man seemed uncomfortable from the apology, which Shiori noted. Uchiha's seem to be uncomfortable with apologizing for anything. She thought it was kind of funny.

"I accept your apology, Tajima-san." She replied, placing the tray of food on the bed beside her. Tajima gave her a smile before turning and leaving the room.

Madara came forward, wearing a dark blue coned shirt and black leggings with no armor this time. His katana was still on his belt though. Shiori wondered if he ever took it off.

"I'm happy you're okay, Shiori." He said, smiling softly towards her. The age marks under his eyes curled upwards, making his smile so much more genuine than she was used to.

"I'm happy to know you were worried about me, Madara-kun." She teased, making a faint blush appear on Madara's face. "Of course I was worried, That's what friends do… right?"

Shiori stared at him, shocked at his words. Friends? He considered them friends? She was surprised and even though they had apologized to each other, she still thought Madara was angry at her. "I… Yeah. I mean- I think so I just didn't think-" Shiori stumbled across her words, trying to find the right reaction to give him.

Madara chuckled at her embarrassment. 'So, she can be embarrassed. It's kind of cute…' He thought. He noticed she began to twirl a piece of her hair in her fingers again, signifying that she was nervous. Honestly, this girl was so easy to read to him that she might as well have been a child's picture book.

"It's pretty late, you can stay here for the night, if you would like." Madara offered.

Shiori hesitated. She didn't want to seem like she was relying on anyone, but she didn't think she had enough strength to walk back to her house at this moment. Her mind told her to go but her body ached for her to stay put.

"I don't want to be a burden to you. I'm sure I've overstayed my welcom-" "Please don't start again. You're not a burden and you haven't overstayed your welcome at all." Madara cut her off, sighing at her stubbornness. "We're friends. I just want you to know you can trust us to say we care about you. You can stay forever and you'd never be a bother to us."

Shiori fell silent to his words, letting them run through her brain again. No one had ever said that to her. Throughout her whole life, people would just tell her she was a burden or that she was taking up space. She lived to know that if you took something, you had to give something back. Or that if someone was being kind, they wanted something from you. But looking at Madara's face and expression made her come to realize that he meant it when he said she could trust them.

"I.." She couldn't even finish a sentence.

Should she let her guard down? Should she let him pierce her walls she built up? Was this real or… was he going to use her?

Could she take that chance again?

"Okay." She said.

oOo

The next morning, Shiori woke up early to check on her patients. Her chakra reserves were almost back to being full and she was able to walk again with ease. She hustled to the medical bay and went to the man, Kazuma, first.

He was awake, with bandages over both of his eye sockets. Shiori sat next to him, preparing to check his status. "Good morning, Kazuma-san." She said, letting him know she was here.

Kazuma recognized her voice. "Ah, my savior has returned. What's your name, by the way?"

"Shiori," She answered, beginning to unwrap the bandages around his eyes. When they fell, she began to inspect her handiwork.

The eye seemed to be accepted by the body perfectly fine. The pupil dilated at the sudden light and Kazuma squinted in discomfort.

"How do you feel?" She asked, checking if the iris was damaged.

"Tired. Blurry. But not in pain." He said.

"Yeah, that's normal side effects. You're going to be blurry for some time until your eye has adjusted to light again and your body adjusts to the new nerves I gave you. It should clear up in a week. However, I don't suggest any strenuous labor and to take it easy until you can see. I don't want your body to become agitated and interfere with your healing." She said, holding her hand in front of his eye and holding up two fingers.

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Two."

She moved further away and changed it to four.

"Now?"

"...Four." He hesitated.

She moved further back and changed fingers.

"...I can't tell." He admitted. Shiori nodded. "It's better than what I thought you would be. I'm going to put bandages around your eye again to protect it from light." She said, taking bandages from the basket next to his bed and beginning to wrap it around his head.

"I really can't thank you enough for saving me." He said while she wrapped his bandages.

"I'm just glad I could help. How did you get your eyes gouged out, anyways?" She asked.

"Senju cornered me and tried to get me to talk. When I refused, they took out my eyes as punishment. Luckily, I was rescued before they could do anything else." He said calmly, as if it was the most casual thing in the world to happen.

Shiori flinched, but continued wrapping his bandages. "I'm sorry that happened…" She said softly.

Kazuma shrugged. "Shit happens during a war. I'm just lucky to make it out alive."

She finished wrapping his bandages and told him to rest before going towards the back. She pulled the curtain back and realized Kayo was not alone.

She was sitting up in her bed with another boy beside her. A little younger than Madara, but older than Ginjiro. He stiffened when she came in, scanning her with his black eyes. Kayo, however, only smiled brighter when she came in the room.

"Shiori-chan! How are you feeling? I heard you fainted yesterday." She said, a worried look falling on her face. Shiori smiled and pushed a piece of her hair out of her face.

"I'm okay. Just chakra exhaustion, so nothing major. How are you feeling?"

"Much much better. That flower you gave me is really doing the trick. I feel like I could run a mile!" Kayo chirped, clapping her hands in excitement. For a grown woman, she was very bright and optimistic. Shiori found it to be cute and admirable.

"I'm glad. I just need to check over your vitals." She said, sitting down next to the woman's bed and across from the boy who was still staring at her.

"Of course! Oh, Shiori-chan, have you met my son, Izuna-kun, yet?"

Shiori shook her head, but smiled warmly towards the boy. "No I haven't. Hi, I'm Shiori." She greeted.

Izuna looked at his mother and then back to Shiori. "Izuna-kun, Shiori is the one who healed me." Kayo said, nudging for him to say something.

"...Thank you for saving my mother." He said after a moment.

Kayo waved her hand in dismissal. "Izuna-kun is so shy around girls. Especially pretty ones like you, Shiori-chan."

Izuna's face burst into red. "O-Okaa-san!" He exclaimed in embarrassment.

Kayo and Shiori giggled at the boy's bright red face.

"I-I'm going to go train!" He said, running out of the room.

Kayo laughed at her son's spectacle, before turning to the auburn haired girl. "Tajima-kun told me you live alone in the woods."

Shiori nodded, putting a hand on Kayo's neck to check her pulse. "I do."

"It must be lonely." Kayo said, her eyes softening.

Shiori flinched, but kept checking the woman's vitals. "...I'm alright by myself. It's not all that bad. I have my garden that I take care of and my books-" "It sounds like you just try to distract yourself from loneliness."

"I'm not- I don't…" Shiori lost the words she wanted to say. Her heart clenched inside her chest. She knew Kayo could read her like a book. 'Am I that transparent?'

"I'm sorry," Kayo said, quickly. "I have a tendency to ramble a lot."

"No, you're right." Shiori said, quietly. "I get lonely a lot."

Kayo stared at the girl, shocked she admitted to it. The room went silent for a moment, before Shiori spoke again.

"I've been alone for so long that I'm used to it now. I'm scared to try and connect with people because I'm afraid of rejection. In my head, I keep telling myself I would rather be alone than get hurt, but I think it's just me trying to protect myself like a coward." Shiori's eyes fell to the ground as she spoke. She poured her feelings out towards the woman who listened to her. She didn't know why she was being so emotional right now, but Kayo's cheerfulness and ability to understand her made Shiori's heart feel at ease.

Kayo's heart hurt for the girl. She couldn't have imagined being alone all those years like Shiori had. Kayo was part of a big clan and married the love of her life. She was a mother and had her family surround her constantly, so she never felt lonely.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, Shiori-chan.." Kayo said softly, pulling the girl into her arms and embracing her.

Shiori froze, not really knowing what to do, but the pain in her heart from her confession made tears burn into her eyes. She wept shamelessly while Kayo held her, stroking her hair and rubbing her back like a mother would.

She felt pathetic crying in front of someone like this. She felt weak and stupid for confessing her weakness to someone she barely knew. Yet the way Kayo shined with happiness and warmth made her walls crumble down.

And for the first time in a long time, Shiori didn't mind if they did